Human Nature
by 5M1TH
Summary: She was never dishonest with Neo, but she knew that some stories must be left untold and some doors must remain unopened.


_Disclaimer: The Matrix and all its characters belong to Wachowski brothers._

* * *

Years later, in the depths of Zion, she lay next to him while listening to the never ending humming of underground city's machinery and decided that this particular memory was not meant to be shared. She was never dishonest with Neo, but she knew that some stories must be left untold and some doors must remain unopened.

* * *

It was four years ago, before the final search for the One, before any seed of hope and any possible future for what was left of the human race. She belonged to the elite, one of the best soldiers of Resistance. She was always assigned to be on the most complicated suicide missions, which she completed with high perfection and skills, that could only match the Agents. Some of her friends even gave her a nickname "Lady Steel", which she highly disregarded. Hating the suppressors of human kind, she would not accept to be compared to them.

The indian summer stretched over the simulated reality of the Matrix and the evening sun painted a picturesque scenario across the artificial sky. For a brief moment, she wondered how the world would be if humans and machines agreed to exist in peace. What great possibilities of cooperation and technological development will there be, what great progress. The war lasted forever and she started to realize that she might not experience its end while she was still alive. She was torn away from her daydream as her cell phone brought her back to the simulated reality. Out there in the real world, Tank's voice was calm, yet she could always hear a trace of concern.

"They are on the 52nd Street, moving towards the South-East direction."

"And I thought I had plenty of time to do sightseeing." She teased.

"Maybe another time, Trin. It looks like Alcyoneus could use your help."

"I'm on it."

Once again, she was assigned to protect an important rebel. Once again, she was destined to cause great distraction to the Agents. And if she was lucky, she would even run into Smith. Other rebels called it a meeting with death. She called it practice.

Alcyoneus was a short rebel with bright purple hair, yellow sunglasses and an odd looking dark green leather coat. His entire appearance was more comical than threatening and it gave an impression of an awkward and mismatched Halloween outfit. Rest assured, he was important enough to demand protection and due to his legendary hacking skills, he was an extremely valued member of the Resistance. That gave him of course quite a high ranking on the Agents' top priority lists.

After cracking the IRS database and some other vitally importantsystems within the Matrix, Trinity was more inclined to do physical than mental exercises at that moment and her recent assignment gave her enough practice to improve her fighting and maneuvering skills. The sun disappeared behind the skyline of Mega City as the 52nd Street filled with police sirens. The policemen assigned on that case, wondered why a fleet of four police cars was sent to retrieve one lone man, but those government suits always left their questions unanswered. The orders that came from higher authority were not to be questioned.

Alcyoneus had approximately less than four minutes to get to the nearest exit, which was now blocked by the emerging police cars. He also knew that the Agents would be there any moment. Grabbing the disc and placing it in his breast pocket, he hurried outside and headed towards the back alley, hoping that his detour would prove to be successful and that he would make it in time. The disc contained information so vital to the Resistance, that failure was not an option.

As he rounded the corner, his view was blocked by a shadow that belonged to a man dressed in an expensive black suit. An Agent. Alcyoneus watched in horror as the Agent aimed at him, but the fire never came. Instead, one well-shaped leg connected with Agent's jaw and caused him to lose balance.

"Run!" Trinity screamed, watching the Agent getting back on his feet.

Alcyoneus didn't have to be told twice, as he quickly regained his composure and ran towards the phone booth across the street. Trinity caught a glimpse of him disappearing into thin air right before the bullets shattered the glass. Relieved, she eyed the Agent – she recognized him as Brown – and bolted across the street, while the Agent's bullets were passing uncomfortably close to her ears.

Now it was just her and the Agents – and something told her that tonight, their growing annoyance with her would reach new levels. Making a left turn on the third street, she climbed into an open window of an abandoned apartment building and found a stairway. With a combination of luck and her excellent physique, she made it to the rooftop in less than thirty seconds, gone unnoticed by the Agents and the police. She decided that either they gave up the pursuit or they have found another target. Rather pleased with her work, she entered the rooftop and hid herself in the nearest shadow, crouching beside the large transformer box and listened.

For whole six minutes, she didn't heard any noise, nor seen anyone enter the rooftop. Almost disappointed to see that the Agents gave up the pursuit, she emerged from her hideaway and breathed in the artificial air. There were still traces of purple on the sky and the night was slowly devouring the Mega City. It was such a big contrast to Zion's cold metal surface, which was dull and depressing. She stretched and allowed herself to yawn as she listened to the distant sound of a party nearby. Maybe she was just a little tired of Zion. Maybe, a small part of her missed living in, which apparently she thought back then, real city – feeling real sun upon her face, watching real clouds and enjoying real food. The lack of sun and ever-present chill of Zion was not what she would describe pleasing. As artificial as the Matrix was, sometimes its reality was more inviting than the cold interior of the last human city.

Just as she allowed herself to glide into another thought, while watching the last traces of the sun, she heard a sickening click of a gun behind her back.

"Out for an evening stroll, Miss Edwards?" A monotone and well-measured voice chilled her to the bones. She knew exactly whom it belonged to.

Agent Smith.

Slowly, she turned to face him. He was exactly as she remembered him, tall, masculine and extremely deadly. At that moment she knew that her life would be over in a second. She silently prayed for Tank to pull the plug. Or a bullet from the Agent. Anything but being dragged to the Agent's headquarters and tortured for hours. But the bullet never came.

"It seems that I have a fortune to run into you quite often, Miss Edwards." Smith said, still aiming his Desert Eagle at her. "And every time I do, you succeed to slip right through my fingers, so to speak."

Even hidden behind his sunglasses, Trinity felt his unforgiving stare.

"That is, to put in your human words, a pain the ass."

Hearing that unexpected phrase from Smith's mouth, Trinity's eyes widened.

"I am not sure that I find this as amusing as you do, Miss Edwards. However, since you started using my colleagues and myself as your weekly workout, I would like to offer you two options." He paused. "Either I kill you right now and your precious Resistance will lose a valuable asset – or..." After a small pause, Smith withdrew his gun and placed it back in its holster. "...I will kill you next time. But not tonight."

"And what about tonight?" Trinity formed a question, her brain still digesting his words, confused by this new development.

"Workout."

She wasn't given an opportunity to answer, as his fist connected with her shoulder, knocking her off her feet.

Her reaction was quick and controlled and within two seconds, she was back on her feet and managed to deliver a series of strategically placed attacks, tripping Smith's balance and finally causing him to stumble.

"Workout indeed." She agreed, placing a hard punch into his solar plexus.

But she was not fast enough, as Smith grabbed her hand and spun her around, throwing her against the transformer box. Being disoriented for a moment, Trinity rose up and discovered blood dripping from her her lip. Just a small gash, nothing to worry about. But seeing her own blood gave her renewed energy and she repaid Smith with an angry kick at his jaw that caused his perfectly polished sunglasses to fly off his face. Looking in his unshielded eyes for the first time in her life, she was surprised to see that they were quite similar to a human's eyes, live with feeling and emotion. She didn't expect a program, let alone an Agent, to have such expressive eyes.

Smith didn't ask for an invitation, as his fist connected with her stomach, knocking out her breath. The second attack was on her collar bone and the third one caused her to trip and fall on the hard surface of the roof, but not without dragging Smith down with her, as she managed to deliver a strategic attack at his legs. He landed next to her, bruising his palms.

Just before she was about to get back on her feet and resume the fight, a distant noise interrupted her.

"Wait."

Smith, still on the ground, narrowed his eyes.

"Are you hearing this?" Trinity slowly rose on her knees and looked at the direction from where the sound originated.

"Yes." Smith nodded and got back on his feet, looking towards the same direction.

She rose up and ran to the end of the roof to get a better look. There, in the back alley right next to the abandoned apartment building, three teenagers were attacking a girl. The girl was terrified and screamed for help as the three almost grown-up men continued to kick her in the face and stomach.

Then Trinity's insides froze and she held her breath.

The young girl was sitting in a wheelchair.

"Oh God..."

Smith's lips parted while he, for a slight moment, lost his controlled composure and watched this horrifying scenario unfolding, not believing his own eyes.

"We've got to help her." Trinity said, finally coming back to her senses.

"She is a huma..."

"Shut up, Smith. We have to help her!" Trinity cut him off. "Come!"

With these words, she jumped off the roof, flipping down the fire stairs, landing on a truck and finally down on the street. Without hesitation, she run directly to the back alley. Smith followed her example, but skipped the fire stairs and truck parts and landed directly on the street. The vibrations from his landing caused the nearby garbage cans to fall down and empty their contains, but at that moment, Smith didn't care.

The three youngsters had manic expressions on their faces as they continued to attack the crying girl in a wheelchair. She had a nasty gash in her forehead and was bleeding violently, praying them to stop. Holding her arms up against her head, to provide the last protection she had, she was crying and shaking uncontrollably, when the largest of the of the teenagers produced a metal bar and delivered a final blow to her head. Her small body shuddered and became still as the two other boys laughed and cheered at their leader.

A thunder of black latex came right at them and knocked them off their feet, three of them at once. She was too furious to talk or to shout and she was on the edge of killing them at the spot. The three boys were shocked as she produced a gun and pointed it at them. She was shaking with fury and she was on the verge of pulling the trigger.

"Miss Edwards."

"Miss Edwards!"

"Trinity!" Her name from the real world brought her back to her senses. Smith came from behind her and took a firm grip on her arms. "Trinity. Let it to. We will take care of them. Let it go."

Slowly, she let go of her gun, her body still shaking. The three boys crouched on the ground, weeping miserably.

As she got hold on her fury, she turned to the girl in the wheelchair. Smith murmured something and placed his hand to his earpiece, calling for back-up.

Trinity rushed to the girl and lifted her off the wheelchair, carefully lowering her down to the ground. The girl was no more that fourteen, maybe fifteen. She was beaten up pretty bad and was bleeding from several places. Trinity's heart sunk, as she couldn't find any pulse.

"No. No..!" Trinity's hands continued to search for the pulse. "She is unconscious. She will be alright." Trinity tried to tell herself as she started giving the girl a cardiac massage. "Smith, she will be just fine!"

Trinity pressed harder as her tears broke. She did the cardiac massage over and over again, hoping to feel any slight trace of pulse. The girl was still not moving. Trinity didn't notice the arrival of two black Audi's. She didn't noticed Agent Brown and Agent Jones taking the three youngsters away. She didn't noticed Smith's hand on her shoulder. She kept giving the cardiac massage, wanting the young girl to come back to life.

"Miss Edwards...Trinity." Smith's grip on her shoulder became more firm. "We cannot do anything. She's gone."

"No. No!"

"We got the criminals and they will be placed under custody and later trialed for their crime. She's dead, Trinity."

"No..."

Her hands, smeared with the girl's blood, finally gave up. She brought her hands to her face and after losing an inner battle, broke down. Bending besides dead girl's body, she wept, regardless of the Agents, regardless of Smith, regardless of her crew that watched her onboard of Nebuchadnezzar, she wept.

Smith stood besides her, watching.

"Agent Smith, shall we take the rebel under custody?" Agent Brown's voice interrupted Smith's thoughts.

"No."

"But she is a rebe..."

"Leave us, Agent Brown." Smith glared at the other Agent. "That is an order."

"Yes, Sir."

She barely registered the dead girl's body being carried away. She barely registered the cars' engines. She barely registered the fact that she and Smith were left alone on the crime scene. She still sat on the ground and cried.

Smith bent down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come."

Barely regsitering her surroundings, she let herself being dragged to Smith's Audi that was parked in a nearby street. Once inside the car, Smith produced a handkerchief and offered it to her.

"I've promised not to kill you tonight and I am intending to keep my word."

Trinity sobbed and nodded. Smith didn't start the car; he silently sat, losing himself in thoughts. His eyes, not being shielded by his usual sunglasses, couldn't hide his emotions.

After long minutes in silence, she finally spoke. "I hate humans."

"What?" Smith turned his head to face her.

"I hate humans, Smith. What makes them be like that? Why would three young boys do such a horrible thing? What drives them to do it? Why, Smith?"

Smith considered for a moment, before answering. "It's a part of human nature."

"What?"

"It's a part of who you are. It's your race, Miss Edwards. The very race you are defending. The very race you are prepared to die for."

Trinity was silent.

"Human beings are destructive creatures. But you know that already. In the first flawless Matrix that we created for you, you ended up destroying each other – and what was left of your race. Your need to destroy outweighs your need to create. It's in your genes. In your nature.

You pollute, destroy and spread yourselves, disregarding the very planet you live on, emptying all its natural resources. You create political systems and religions, and yet you behave like savages. You call yourselves superior and intelligent, and yet your governments can't create a simple solution that would eliminate diseases, hunger and poverty. Humanity is flawed. What happened tonight was a perfect example of it. You are so eager to defend a race that is bound for extinction. Is it worth it, Miss Edwards?"

She wanted to say something in protest, but for the very first time since she was freed from the Matrix, she couldn't find the right argument.

"We are not some evil empire, Miss Edwards. Our race cares about your race. About this planet. About the future. We want exactly the same thing as you: peace."

She was beginning to form an answer as she was interrupted by her cell phone. Smith nodded and allowed her to answer it.

"Trin, get out of there." Tank's voice brought her concentration back. "I have an exit for you in two minutes right across the street. Otherwise, we will be coming to get you."

"I'm okay Tank. Thank you. See you soon." She hung up the phone. "I must go, Smith."

"Of course."

She was surprised to hear this, but then she remembered his promise.

He got out of the car and opened the door for her. They walked in silence towards the phone booth. As the phone started ringing, Smith turned to her.

"I hope that you are aware of the fact that next time we meet, I will kill you, Miss Edwards."

"I expect nothing less."

Smith's lips curved into a small smile. She smiled back at him as she picked up the receiver.

His smile imprinted in her memory as she was devoured by the black void and pulled back to the cold reality of Nebuchadnezzar.


End file.
